KATE BICKMORE

Glossy. Seductive. Fatal. Kate Bickmore’s new paintings feature hyper-real renditions of Hellebores, Ricinis Communis and Solanum Laxum, that are just as alluring as they are deadly to ingest. Bickmore questions what it means to be toxic, where the lines are between protection and offence, in nature and in relationships.

Women have historically been compared to flowers; delicate and decorative. It’s imagery that has persisted in placing women in a patriarchal image as pure and virginal. Across cultures women who don’t fit this become a poisoned flower, an other, ‘femme fatale’, siren, succubus, huli jing, witch; mysterious women who use their beauty to ‘ensnare’ men. In Greek Mythology Circe lured sailors to her island and gave them moly-laced food to turn them to pigs. In the 1600’s women took to poisoning as a career, notorious Guila Tofana distributed poison in Rome to free abused wives. Poison is a feminine art. Bickmore’s flowers, nestled so that they stand out amongst a soft glow of foliage, carry the charm of the ‘femme fatale’. Danger is part of the attraction.

Painting the flowers with the intimacy one might paint a lover, Bickmore artifices the same hazy tunnel vision as the lustful gaze. Despite this ‘siren call’ magnetism, their perfection creates an untouchability that reminds the viewer to keep their distance. They are not for consumption. Created by centuries of natural selection, toxins are a defence mechanism against predators. The rise of cancel culture and the use of shock value language on social media, makes us quick to call out ‘toxicity’. The artist calls for a gentler hand in looking at these ‘toxic’ behaviours, considering where it’s a self-defence mechanism learnt from past relationships and carried on to new ones.